#and now to go into ML hibernation

[tabbyclaw]

Bringing back an old akuma seems like the ideal plan, but it brings with it more than Mayura bargained for.

I liked my ‘Beloathed’ prompt fill enough to clean it up and chuck it up on AO3. Same basic story, but far more polished.

[purincipia]

"you look prettier when you smile”

[rosethornewrites]

Fic: Sacrifice

Relationships: Marc Anciel/Nathaniel Kurtzberg, Marc Anciel & Nathaniel Kurtzberg & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug

Characters: Marc Anciel, Nathaniel Kurtzberg, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Principal Damocles, Lila Rossi, Chloé Bourgeois

Tags: Angst, Bullying, Injustice, Gaslighting, Self-Sacrifice, Lila Rossi Lies, Crying, Hugs, Hurt No Comfort, Protective Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Triggers, enablers, ml salt, Catharsis, hello darkness my old friend, Madame Bustier salt, Principal Damocles salt, Lila salt, Friendship, Abuse, Lies, Victim Blaming, Heart-to-Heart, Sad Nathaniel Kurtzberg, Sad Marc Anciel, Sad Marinette Dupain-Cheng, bad teachers, bad adults, Isolation

Summary: Marinette has grown accustomed to her school's enabling of bullies, and knows the only way to protect her classmates from Lila is to be her only target.

Note: I went through an experience not too unlike this when I was in 8th grade, protecting a peer by taking the blame for something that would piss off most of my classmates. I lived in Small Town, USA, and was already the bullied outcast, so I took on more to keep that peer from having to experience it.

AO3 link

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Marinette sat at a table in the art room, trying hard to find a creative spark. Lately it had been in hiding, or hibernating, or something. Really, since Lila had come back and vowed to destroy her. The liar had started to isolate her, slowly convincing her peers that she had done or said things she hadn’t.

She had thought they’d trust her over a virtual stranger, but Lila had clearly done this before. She’d started small, believable, and made it worse over time. And Marinette herself hadn’t helped the issue—injustice triggered her, made her see red. It had since Chloé had bullied her relentlessly with no consequences, teachers and staff choosing to look away instead of help. Or worse, they expected her to practically thank Chloé for her treatment, gaslighting her being upset. All those years of abuse, enabled by adults.

And so Marinette had reacted, and that had just dug a deeper hole, giving Lila’s quiet accusations a foothold, giving the liar something to work with.

Before, everyone knew Chloé was awful. But now, Lila had them all convinced she was wonderful, and so they didn’t believe anything Marinette said about her—they believed her instead. It was a whole different type of bullying, and so much more insidious than what Marinette had faced before.

Adrien expected her to take the ‘high road,’ and she’d slowly come to realize he meant what the enabling adults did. Marinette wondered what had stripped his sense of justice away; she was fairly certain the answer started with a G.

She was starting to wonder if it was even worth staying to use the art room, putting herself in situations that involved the classmates who used it.

“Marinette?”

Nathanaël’s voice startled her out of her reverie, and she looked up warily to see him and Marc looking at her, their faces troubled. Marinette hoped she hadn’t said something questionable out loud; she didn’t need to look crazy in addition to being made to look like a bully.

“Yes?” she asked, keeping her voice as cool and disinterested as she could.

“Can… can we talk to you for a minute?” Marc asked softly.

His body language reminded her of a frightened rabbit, and she softened.

“Of course. Are you okay? What’s wrong?”

Nathanaël glanced around the room and Marinette did the same. Surprisingly, none of their other classmates were there today, and the realization relaxed tension she hadn’t known she was feeling. Even the art teacher was out of the room. At the moment, it was just the three of them.

They sat across from her at the table, and seemed to have a silent conversation before Nathanaël finally spoke, not meeting her eyes.

“Marc pointed out some… inconsistencies in the stories Lila was telling us,” he began.

“He means he knows she’s lying now,” Marc interjected in a whisper.

Nathanaël looked guilty. “I can’t believe I ever believed her, especially about you. I… I mean, you know I had a crush on you, and I think so highly of you, but she had me convinced. I’m so sorry, Marinette.”

“We want to help,” Marc added.

Marinette wondered for a moment what Marc had said that she hadn’t, but decided it didn’t matter, not really.

Nathanaël finally looked up. “I want to help you expose her.”

She blinked, startled. Marinette had thought they meant by supporting her; she hadn’t expected the two shyest boys in the school to want to take an active role like this.

She couldn’t let them.

Neither of them were strangers to being bullied, and they were both such sensitive souls that it impacted them far worse than most. Worse than her, definitely. If she was having trouble with the war Lila was waging against her, they’d be quick victims.

Marinette shook her head. “She’ll come after you. Worse than Chloé ever did.”

Nathanaël’s eyes widened as he realized the ramifications of that—Chloé had been the reason he’d been Akumatized, after all. If Lila could do worse, and sat right next to him…

“You can’t do this alone,” Marc whispered, and it was clear he got the meaning, too.

“I have to,” she said. She could feel the tickle of threatened tears at the edge of her eyes, and fought them off. “If I’m her only target, no one else will get hurt. She can’t know you know she’s lying, or she’ll go after you.”

Marc covered his mouth with one hand, looking horrified. He didn’t hold back the tears.

Nathanaël looked grim. “You’re sacrificing yourself.”

To avoid seeing Marc’s tears, avoid them being contagious, Marinette looked down at the halfhearted doodles on the open page of her sketchbook. She had pages and pages like this, of half-assed designs and partly-drawn rejects.

“She’s not going to stop coming after me, and the teachers won’t do anything,” she said after she was sure she had control. “If they won’t stop the mayor’s daughter, they won’t stop a diplomat’s either. None of us have powerful parents; it’s never mattered when mine have complained. Even though M. Damocles has a duty to look into it, he never has before, and that’s not likely to change.”

She felt the bitterness twitching her lips into a sneer, and stopped it with a sigh. She shook her head.

“It’s enough knowing you both know.” Marinette attempted to smile at them. “Adrien knows, too. I’m sure the rest of the class will come around eventually, too.”

Marc wiped at his face with the sleeve of his hoodie, not able to hold in a soft sob. “But you’ll be suffering until then. It’s not fair!”

“No,” she agreed. “It’s not. But our collége isn’t fair. The adults aren’t fair. And the only way I can create a tiny bit of justice in this situation is to make sure you two aren’t hurt by it, too.”

A hand covered her own, and she looked up to find it was Nathanaël’s. He’d lost his battle against tears as well. Marinette could feel a lump in her throat.

“We’ll support you however you need us to, Marinette,” he whispered. “You’re not alone. We won’t let you be alone. We’re here for you.”

That did it; she felt a tear slip down her cheek. Marc rushed around the table to throw his arms around her, and she felt a sob start to build in her throat. Then Nathanaël was beside her, gathering her in his arms as well, and the sob broke free, so strong her whole body seemed to convulse. She was certain if she didn’t keep some control, she’d start wailing and never stop.

She had felt alone, even with Adrien knowing. He never checked on her, though she was sure he’d heard the rumors Lila had been spreading. But Marc and Nathanaël—they were reaching out. They were supporting her.

Marinette would protect them, be strong for them. It was the only thing she could do.

[skyboivinauthor]

Mabon blessings

Autumn Equinox, 2nd Harvest, Falls Between September 21 - 23

Mabon, (pronounced MAY-bun, MAY-bone, MAH-boon, or MAH-bawn) is the Autumn Equinox. The Autumn Equinox divides the day and night equally, and we all take a moment to pay our respects to the impending dark. We also give thanks to the waning sunlight, as we store our harvest of this year's crops. The Druids call this celebration, Mea'n Fo'mhair, and honor the The Green Man, the God of the Forest, by offering libations to trees. Offerings of ciders, wines, herbs and fertilizer are appropriate at this time. Wiccans celebrate the aging Goddess as she passes from Mother to Crone, and her consort the God as he prepares for death and re-birth.

Various other names for this Lesser Wiccan Sabbat are The Second Harvest Festival, Wine Harvest, Feast of Avalon, Equinozio di Autunno (Strega), Alben Elfed (Caledonii), or Cornucopia. The Teutonic name, Winter Finding, spans a period of time from the Sabbat to Oct. 15th, Winter's Night, which is the Norse New Year.

At this festival it is appropriate to wear all of your finery and dine and celebrate in a lavish setting. It is the drawing to and of family as we prepare for the winding down of the year at Samhain. It is a time to finish old business as we ready for a period of rest, relaxation, and reflection.

Symbolism of Mabon:

Second Harvest, the Mysteries, Equality and Balance.

Symbols of Mabon:

wine, gourds, pine cones, acorns, grains, corn, apples, pomegranates, vines such as ivy, dried seeds, and horns of plenty.

Herbs of Maybon:

Acorn, benzoin, ferns, grains, honeysuckle, marigold, milkweed, myrrh, passionflower, rose, sage, solomon's seal, tobacco, thistle, and vegetables.

Foods of Mabon:

Breads, nuts, apples, pomegranates, and vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, and onions.

Incense of Mabon:

Autumn Blend-benzoin, myrrh, and sage.

Colors of Mabon:

Red, orange, russet, maroon, brown, and gold.

Stones of Mabon:

Sapphire, lapis lazuli, and yellow agates.

Activities of Mabon:

Making wine, gathering dried herbs, plants, seeds and seed pods, walking in the woods, scattering offerings in harvested fields, offering libations to trees, adorning burial sites with leaves, acorns, and pine cones to honor those who have passed over.

Spellworkings of Mabon:

Protection, prosperity, security, and self-confidence. Also those of harmony and balance.

Deities of Mabon:

Goddesses-Modron, Morgan, Epona, Persephone, Pamona and the Muses. Gods-Mabon, Thoth, Thor, Hermes, and The Green Man.

Mabon is considered a time of the Mysteries. It is a time to honor Aging Deities and the Spirit World. Considered a time of balance, it is when we stop and relax and enjoy the fruits of our personal harvests, whether they be from toiling in our gardens, working at our jobs, raising our families, or just coping with the hussle-bussle of everyday life. May your Mabon be memorable, and your hearts and spirits be filled to overflowing!

Symbols of Mabon

The Cornucopia

The Cornucopia, or Horn of Plenty, is a traditional symbol for Mabon. It is a wonderful symbol for the wealth of harvest and is beautifuly balanced symbol which is both male (phallic) and female (hollow and receptive)

The Apple

The apple is the symbol of the Fruit Harvest. The apple figures significantly in many sacred traditions. It is a symbol for life and immortality, for healing, renewal, regeneration and wholeness. It is associated with beauty, long life and restored youth. The Ogham name for apple is Quert and Quert is the epitome of health and vitality. The apple is at the heart of the Ogham grove and is the source of life. For Pagans, the apple contains a 'secret'. Cut an apple width ways and it reveals a pentagram containing seeds. It is a much loved symbol of Paganism. The five points represent the elements of Earth, Air, Fire, Water with Spirit at the top, and thus also the directions of East, South, West, North and Within.

A circle around the pentagram represents the eternal circle/cycle of life and nature, and of wholeness. In ritual and ceremony the pentacle corresponds to the element of Earth. It is believed to be a protection against evil for both the person and the home, worn as an amulet or used to guard entrances to the home through windows and doors.

Colours of Mabon

From green to red, orange, yellow, brown and gold.

The Mabon Altar

Your altar should be dressed in the very best produce you can find from field, forest and market, from garden and the wild. Apples, pears, damsons, sloes, rose hips, elderberries, blackberries, hawthorn berries, the possibilities are large. If you collect from the wild, be not greedy - always leave plenty of fruit and berries for the birds and wee creatures.

Make an outdoor shrine for the nature spirits in thanks for the bounty they help to provide. Leave one of each flower, fruit and vegetable that you have, as a gift.

Things To Do

Great Feast of Thanksgiving.

Celebrate with a feast for friends and family using as much fruit & veg, locally grown, as you can.

Go Walking.

Go for a walk and collect as much of nature's wild abundance as you can, while respecting the need to leave enough for everyone else including the nature spirits. You will find wild damsons, sloes, rosehips, elderberries, blackberries, hawthorn berries and more. Remember the fruit is the carrier of the precious seed.

Clear Out and Complete.

We think of Spring as the time to clear out but now is the perfect time to complete unfinished projects and clear your home of unwanted stuff. Prepare to hibernate!

Plant Bulbs.

This is an excellent time to plant tree seeds and shrubs. They have all of winter in the darkness to establish and germinate. Plant bulbs which will hide in the earth until early Spring beckons. Make each one a hope, idea or aspiration for Spring and wait until their little green noses show above ground - to remind you!

Buttermilk Bread Charm for Mabon.

You will need:

3 mugs of strong white flour

500 ml of Buttermilk (available from the supermarket)

I teaspoonful of bicarbonate of soda

Mabon ribbon in your choice of colour - red, orange, yellow, gold, brown

A handful of dried fruit of your choice - dates, raisins, sultanas, currants

Place the flour and dried fruit in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre. Sieve in the blended salt and soda and pour in the buttermilk. Mix well with a wooden spoon until the dough feels springy. If it feels too sloppy just add a little more flour. Turn it onto a board and cover with a fine dusting of flour. Pat it with your hands until you have a round shape. Take a sharp knife and score lightly into eight sections, one for each festival. Our picture shows the bread cut into five sections, making a pentacle.

Place onto a greased baking tray and pop your buttermilk bread into a moderate oven for about 20-25 minutes. Keep and eye on it. When the bread is ready it will change colour and it will sound hollow when you tap the bottom. Cool completely on a wire rack. When it is cool, tie it with Mabon ribbon.

Take time to concentrate on the bread you have created and turn the loaf three times saying"From the fields and through the stones, into fire, Mabon Bread, as the Wheel turns may all be fed. Goddess Bless."

Now take your bread and share it with your family and friends and pass on the generous blessings of this bright and bountiful festival. Eat it fresh, as soon as it is made if you can.

Recipe donated by the Counter Enchantress. Adapted by the Boss Lady with permission.

The Counter Enchantress is discovering that you can add almost anything appropriate to this simple bread recipe and it STILL WORKS beautifully. You can decide for yourself what the appropriate additions are for a particular festival, in this case dried fruit for Mabon, and just do it. There is much kitchen magic in working with one recipe through the Wheel of the Year just changing it a little as the wheel turns.....

Somerset Apple Cake

We are very blessed here in that we live in the sacred Isle of Avalon, also called the Isle of Apples, in Somerset, England. And we are indeed surrounded, still, by orchards which grow apples both for Somerset's famous cider-making and for eating. One of our family pleasures is a local orchard which grows many traditional varieties of apples. Most of what they grow goes to make apple juice. But just before they do that, local people are invited over a weekend to go pick apples for themselves and their families. And it's such fun to spend an afternoon among the apple trees within sight of Glastonbury Tor. Chalice Well Trust is developing an organic apple orchard on the slopes of the Tor and now also produces small quantities of delicious organic apple juice which are sold to visitors. It's a limited supply and very precious - reserved for very special occasions or ceremony in our household.

Below is an authentic Somerset Apple Cake recipe. Eat it either cold, or warm with cream.

INGREDIENTS:

340gms/12oz self-raising flour

a pinch of salt

225gms/8oz margarine/butter

½ teaspoon cinnamon

170gms/6oz caster sugar

115gms/4oz sultanas

450gms/16oz cooking apples, finely chopped

3 eggs

a little milk

a little demerara sugar

METHOD:

1. Rub the fat into the flour and salt. Add the sugar and cinnamon. Make a well in the mixture and drop in the egg and fruit. Mix well; if the dough is a little too stiff, add some milk.

2. Place in an eight-inch greased cake tin, and sprinkle a little demerara sugar on the top.

3. Bake for one-and-a-half to two hours, in a moderate oven (Gas Mark 4/180°C/350°F), until cooked. Allow to cool slightly before turning out onto a cooling rack.

[krysyuy]

I started my Wang So appreciation gifset series, partly to get back into giffing since I stopped after LL ended and partly because this is sort of my thing to celebrate MLSHR's second anniversary this month, I guess, lol. One of the ways, anyway. Also because my love for him will never die, but that goes without saying. ;P I'm going episode by episode for now, but just choosing random scenes, not necessarily my favorite ones. I wanted to post a gifset a day for the month, but because of Tumblr spam rules, I guess I'll just monitor the situation accordingly. ʅ(ツ)ʃ The JG tag is slow since he's hibernating and the ML tags are sporadic (it's inevitable my posts will disappear there), so the only tag I really care about is KDrama Network's since I'm a member and my stuff gets reblogged there (i.e. more ~exposure). So I'll just pay attention to that tag most of all.

#do you realise that if its a wang so appreciation series you will have to literally gif every single scene #because hes amazing in all of them lol (via @letsflytoasiarenata)

Renata, your tags killed me because honestly, that is sort of the goal. (/∇＼*)｡o○♡ Just giffing his face in every which way, LMAO. I'll continue even after August ends, but just for whenever I feel like it. Like how I plan on going back to my Bong Sang Pil appreciation series eventually as well. (Ugh, that series is most def incomplete.)

Anyways, hope y'all enjoy gifsets of Wang So's face!

[project-ml]

Project: Calendar 2018 — May Flowers and Garden Bugs (MAY)

may flowers and garden bugs

Written By: @breeeliss | Ao3

Beta’d By: @the-bored-bookworm | Ao3 & @krzed | Ao3

Word Count: 3685

Summary: “Did you know it’s always good luck for someone to have ladybugs and bees in their garden? They make a really great team without even realizing it. That’s why I knew from the moment you joined us that you and I were going to make a great team. I still think that.”

Two teammates have a heart-to-heart tucked away under the cover of Marinette’s rooftop garden.

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Tags: Chloé Bourgeois&Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Friendship, Beginnings of Romance, Bee Tendencies, Ladybug Tendences, Bug Tendencies, Springtime, Flowers, Rooftop Gardens, Aftermath of Reveal, Heart-to-Heart, Fluff, ML Spoilers

It started when Chloe began adding honey to her tea.

Normally, Chloe took her tea and her coffee black. It made no sense ruining expensive imported tea leaves and coffee beans by adding sweeteners that would dull the taste. But one day she was standing in the kitchen while her tea was steeping and eyed the jar of honey sitting in the cabinet. She didn’t know what came over her, but she added three whole tablespoons of the stuff into her mug and actually enjoyed the oversaturated taste after she’d done it.

She chalked it up to a momentary sweet tooth after checking her period tracker and assuming she was just getting weird midnight cravings. But there was one afternoon when she decided to go for a swim in the pool on the roof’s hotel and realized that being in the water felt wrong to her. Like it wasn’t really what she wanted to be doing all the way up here on the top floor of the hotel, which was strange because Chloe used to absolutely adore staying in the water until her skin pruned. Then, as she was toweling off, Chloe eyed the stone railings on the edge of the roof and suddenly felt this strange compulsion to stare out over the edge.

Chloe wound up climbing on top of the railings, letting her legs dangle over the edge, shutting her eyes, and holding her arms out to greet the breeze that was blowing in her direction. She could feel the great distance from the sidewalks below to the tips of her toes, and when she tipped her head back far enough, it almost felt like she was flying. Suddenly, she felt perfectly content, like something had finally been righted and satisfied.

By the time she started sneaking flower pots from the living room and hoarding them in her bedroom, Chloe decided that there was something severely wrong with her.

“Oh, it happens occasionally to some miraculous holders,” Pollen explained while Chloe stuck another spoonful of honey in her mouth. “Your powers are so intimately linked with the essence of the animal your miraculous stone represents that sometimes things can...bleed over, so to speak.”

Chloe raised a brow. “So what, am I going to start building beehives in my room and recruiting a colony of drones and workers?”

Pollen laughed. “Nothing like that, I promise. Most of the side effects are rather harmless and easy to ignore or get used to. Your honey cravings are about as inconvenient as they’ll get.”

“Inconvenient is an understatement. I’m pretty sure my butler thinks I’m a freak after asking him to add ten extra jars of honey to his shopping list. I’m going to have to start taking spinning classes or something. Burn off the extra calories.”

“You’ll be just fine,” Pollen giggled. “Past miraculous holders have told me the side effects get easier to manage with time, you just have to be patient. I’m sure your teammates have to deal with this as well. Ladybug might actually be particularly sympathetic to what you’re going through.”

Chloe blinked thoughtfully at the mention of Marinette and spoke around her spoon. “Why would you say that?”

“There are a lot of things that ladybugs and bees have in common,” Pollen winked. “Besides, it might be a good way to start a conversation with her.”

Chloe frowned and turned her chair away from Pollen. “Not happening.”

“Chloe,” Pollen sighed. “You can’t keep avoiding her forever. It’s been a month. The two of you ought to talk about this. You’re friends, after all.”

“Ladybug and Queen Bee are friends,” Chloe calmly corrected. “Chloe and Marinette aren’t. It isn’t as easy as you make it seem.”

It was almost laughable that after being so meticulously careful about keeping their identities a secret, Queen Bee and Ladybug would reveal them to each other over something as silly as flying into the same alleyway to detransform on accident. It was so anticlimactic that it took Chloe a few seconds to even register who was staring back at her, and by that time it was definitely too late to play it off like she hadn’t seen anything. Nothing had been communicated between them — only the silent understanding between two superheroes that this was something that needed to remain a secret for their own safety — and they walked off in opposite directions to create as much distance between them as possible.

Patrols were awkward, akuma attacks were awful, and their fighting and bickering during school hours had come to an abrupt halt once the two of them realized that their relationship had become ten times more complicated and that they didn’t know how to begin talking about it. So they settled with civil silence that somehow seemed to make things worse the longer it lasted.

But Chloe admired Ladybug with her entire soul. How was she supposed to talk to her now that she knew she was the same person she’d been butting heads with since they were eleven?

Pollen kept saying they needed to discuss what happened, that revealing identities to each other wasn’t anything to trivialize, but Chloe wasn’t trying to do anything of the sort. Every time she stared at Marinette from across the classroom or saw her walking by her desk, she’d think this was the moment she could say something. But whenever they made eye contact, Chloe would shrivel back inside herself and decide to say nothing. Seeing any animosity from Marinette at this point would feel like it was coming straight from Ladybug. Chloe didn’t think she could handle Ladybug looking at her like she was disappointed to know who had her back all these months when they were out risking their lives. Better to just not say anything and hope it would blow over on its own.

The next morning, Chloe shocked her driver into silence when she said that she preferred to walk to school rather than take the car. There was something criminal about not enjoying the warm weather, the flowers sprouting from the cracks in the sidewalk, and people poking their heads out of their apartment windows to water their windowsill gardens flourishing in the sunlight. Better than all of that was the cloudless sky hanging above Chloe’s head — vibrant, beautiful, and blue. It made her wish she could transform and go for a fly around the city.

But by the time she was halfway through second period, her entire mood flipped around. She felt agitated and tetchy, so much so that her leg was bouncing uncontrollably and it was too hard to bother focusing on the lesson. She wanted to be outside. Being in here was maddening and it was making her feel like she was shut in a cramped box with no way out. Chloe wondered if this was another side effect because she wasn’t normally this fidgety during class. At one point, she had to lay her head down on her desk and try to imagine the walk to school to get her brain to stop fixating on the next moment when she’d get to be outside again.

It wasn’t until Chloe felt a tap on her shoulder that she snapped her head up and realized class was finally over, everyone filtering out of the classroom and chatting about their lunch plans. She rubbed her eyes, looked to her left, and saw Marinette standing by her desk, staring at her worriedly. Chloe instinctively leaned away from her and contemplated quickly slipping out of her seat and putting as much distance between the two of them as possible. But Marinette held up a finger as she dug into her backpack and pulled out a stem of purple, bell shaped flowers.

“Here,” Marinette offered. “You looked like you were losing your mind during class.”

Chloe eyed the flowers suspiciously. “Are you hitting on me or something?”

“No,” Marinette glared. “Just….trust me. Take it. It’ll help. A few whiffs oughta do it.”

It was the first time they’d spoken in weeks, but if Marinette was willing to give Chloe an out by starting a conversation herself, she supposed it was worth it to at least play along. She took the stem of flowers and held them up to her nose, feeling a pleasant shiver run through her body as she inhaled deeply. It was like all of the muscles in her body relaxed and her anxiety from earlier had dissipated as the beautiful fragrance took over her senses.

“Oh my God,” Chloe sighed out. “What is this stuff?”

“Foxgloves,” Marinette laughed. “I checked online, they’re supposed to be really good for attracting bees.”

“Excuse me?”

“Spring is tough,” Marinette sympathized. “It’s hard to be indoors because you just wanna sprint outside and throw yourself in a bed of flowers. Carrying flowers or wearing some floral perfume helps a little bit, but it doesn’t beat the real thing.”

Chloe frowned as she took a few of the flowers and tucked them behind her ear. “Wait, how did you know?”

“I was watching you,” she admitted. “I recognized the signs, I used to get like that right after I got my miraculous too. I figured I’d give you an olive branch and help you out. Or….a foxglove sprig. Same difference.”

Chloe swallowed and finished packing up her books, carefully going along with their tentative camaraderie. “Thanks,” she mumbled. “I’m still trying to figure out how to deal with all this crap. I keep swallowing honey like it’ll kill me if I don’t.”

Marinette snorted. “Yeah, well, I stop just short of hibernating in the winter time. We just have to roll with it.”

“Yeah, lucky us. I’ll just have to walk around with a garden growing out of my bag so that I don’t throw myself out the window for the rest of the school year. No big deal.”

Marinette bit on her lip and balanced on the tips of her toes. “You, uh….have any lunch plans?”

“No. Why?”

“Mind if I show you something? It’s at my house so it’s not far, but it might make you feel better.”

“You’re….inviting me to your house,” Chloe stated as if she were trying to determine if she’d heard her correctly. “You sure about that?”

Marinette winced and looked down at her feet. “I figured….or I hoped that we could also talk for a bit. I mean, you obviously don’t have to, but it’s hard to keep avoiding each other when we literally have to work together almost every day.”

Chloe stayed in her seat and kept her bag hugged close to her chest. “We don’t talk. We never did.”

“That’s not true,” Marinette replied. “We’ve been talking since you got that hair comb. We’re talking right now. Nothing’s exploding.”

“It should be. I’m not just your partner or your friend anymore.”

Marinette opened her mouth and looked like she was about to refute the point, but she swallowed it back when she finally realized that not even her optimism could erase the truth of that statement. Their dynamic was a lot more complicated now and they needed to be up front about that. She remained silent, so Chloe took that as her cue to start making her way towards the door. But Marinette caught her hand before she could leave.

“If you’re not ready to talk we don’t have to,” Marinette promised. “We don’t have to say a word. But….please come over? I have something that’ll work better than one little flower stem. It’ll give you enough relief to last you through the rest of the school day, I promise. I just want to help you.”

“I’ll be fine,” Chloe insisted.

“Please? I’m asking as Ladybug.”

Chloe dipped her head and chuckled. “God, that’s such a low blow.”

Marinette shrugged. “Worth a shot.”

There were a lot of ways Chloe could imagine this going wrong, but she was starting to feel the irritability of being stuck indoors coming back despite the flowers in her hair, so perhaps it was best to defer to an expert on this one. She adjusted the strap of her bag and gestured to the doorway of the classroom. “Alright, bug. I’ll bite.”

As promised, Marinette didn’t try and initiate any sort of conversation as they made their way across the street towards her apartment above the bakery. It wasn’t until they were climbing to the top floor of the four story walk up that Chloe noticed how many flowers Marinette was keeping on her today. They were poking out of her purse and out of her backpack, woven into the bracelets she was wearing, and sewn into the hair clip that was holding all of her hair in a bun on top of her head.

Chloe sort of remembered Marinette having a thing for flowers last Spring, but attributed it to just a strange fashion statement. It wasn’t until now that she recognized it for the coping mechanism that it was. It made Marinette seem like this calming, walking garden that gave Chloe a small shred of peace if she stayed close to it. She sneakily plucked a pink flower from the side pocket of Marinette’s bag and wrapped it around her index finger, bringing it up to her nose and smiling at the immediate satisfaction it brought her.

Marinette brought Chloe up to her bedroom and told her to leave her shoes by the trapdoor while she climbed on top of her bed and pushed open the hatch to her skylight. Chloe gave her an odd stare, but Marinette didn’t seem to notice it as she ushered Chloe out to her balcony. She grumbled complaints under her breath as she squeezed through the hatch and hoisted herself up onto the small balcony, but all of her annoyance flew right out of her mind as she looked around her.

Lining the railings of Marinette’s balcony were dozens of pots, vases, hanging baskets, and glass jam jars filled with with potted flowers that made the space look like a miniature rooftop garden with a marvellous view of the sky stretching over Paris to boot. There were so many flowers and leaves practically spilling out of their containers, wrapping around the handrails, and crawling along the brick of the building that Chloe was overwhelmed by the smell of them all. But it was such a lovely smell, and Chloe felt a smile break out on her face as she closed her eyes, gulped in a huge breath of air, and let the beauty of Marinette’s small garden fill her all the way up to her toes.

She opened her eyes to find Marinette sitting cross legged on an old quilt that she’d laid out in the middle of the floor, presumably so that she could lay out and stare up at all the flowers growing around her. “You like it?” she asked with a grin.

Chloe reached out and brushed her thumb along the petals of a bundle of yellow flowers that were hanging from the railing and tickling her cheek. “How long did this take you?”

“A few weeks,” Marinette said. “I started saving up my babysitting money to get a few flowers. Also made a little deal with the florist next door for some flowers in exchange for free baguettes from the bakery. He helped me do a little research on which were the best ones to get.”

“Best ones?”

“So all the ones on the right over there are cosmos, yarrows, marigolds, and angelicas. Apparently ladybugs really like them. I think there are a few sitting on the petals.”

Chloe crawled closer and indeed saw several ladybugs milling about on the leaves of some of the flowers. “What about the ones on the other side?”

“Uh, more foxgloves, calendulas, crocuses, heliotropes, and some lavender. Those are great for bees actually,” Marinette smiled, watching Chloe reach out and pull a pot of flowers closer to her so that she could see the honeybee hiding in the petals. “I’ve got bees buzzing around here all the time.”

“Why do you have flowers here for attracting bees?”

Marinette shrugged. “I, uh….sort of always meant to invite you to sit here with me. Well, you as in Queen Bee. But I guess it’s easier to show you this now that we know about each other.”

Chloe bit her lip and saw the way Marinette hugged her knees to her chest to make herself look smaller, realizing she’d brought up the taboo topic they promised not to discuss. Chloe was tempted to leave it at that, but something about being outside with all of these flowers made her feel less scared. Or perhaps it was Marinette’s kindness in sharing something like this with her. She wouldn’t have done something like this if she hated Chloe, right? Surely this was something that could be seen as a show of good faith? Proof that there was no disappointment, no anger, no malice.

Chloe jutted her chin towards the blanket. “Can I sit with you?”

“Sure,” Marinette agreed, scooching over to make room for her. “Take this side.”

They both wound up laying on their backs side by side as they stared up at the plants dangling over their heads and twisting around every surface of the balcony. It was like a tiny slice of heaven tucked away in a small corner of the city, and the charm of it all made Chloe brave as she opened her mouth first. “I should’ve been more careful. About the detransformation thing. That was my fault.”

“It’s just as much my fault,” Marinette said, shaking her head. “Accidents happen. Now we just have to be careful to keep it a secret. It’s probably best if Chat Noir and Rena Rouge don’t know.”

“Makes sense,” Chloe said. She folded her hands on her stomach and sighed. “I thought you hated me.”

“Why would I hate you?”

Chloe snorted. “Are you seriously asking me that?”

Marinette relented the point with a short laugh. “Okay. Fair. But I never hated you. I was….confused by you. I wasn’t sure what I did to you to make you hate me so much.”

“I never hated you either. You were grating.”

“How is that different?”

“Because things came easily to you,” Chloe said. “I remember when you first became Ladybug. You caught onto things pretty quick. That’s because you’re a natural at literally everything. And it’s annoying. Because most people have to work at that stuff and you’re just good at it. Good at making friends, good at balancing your life, good at being a superhero. It pissed me off. Still does.”

“And what?” Marinette asked. “You’re not a good superhero?”

Chloe gave her a deadpanned stare. “You’re Ladybug. No one’s as good a superhero as you.”

Marinette rolled her eyes. “Don’t give me that. You’re a marvelous superhero. You take your job seriously, you care about civilians, and you want to do the right thing. Getting used to your powers isn’t as important as having the heart for the job and you have so much heart. And knowing that it’s you with all of that passion and heart is….really sweet to see. It made me realize that there was more to you than I was letting myself see. Like, maybe you’re not as awful as I thought you were if you’re the same Queen Bee I trust with my life.”

“I mean, how was I not going to put my all into this?” Chloe commented. “I adored you. You were everything I wanted to be and couldn’t figure out how to be. The minute I got a chance to prove myself to you, I practically sprinted for it. I’m still sprinting for it, probably harder than I was before. It messes me up to think of you being angry with me.”

“Me Marinette, or me Ladybug?”

Chloe shrugged. “There isn’t a difference between the two of you anymore.”

Marinette stayed silent for a few moments and then crawled her hand across the blanket until it was covering Chloe’s own. Chloe flinched away from the contact, but was prevented from pulling her hand back when Marinette gripped her fingers in her hand. “Did you know it’s always good luck for someone to have ladybugs and bees in their garden? It’s because they work together to pollinate flowers and keep garden pests away. They make a really great team without even realizing it.” Marinette turned her head to face Chloe and waited until their eyes met. “I knew from the moment you joined us that you and I were going to make a great team. I still think that. Even after knowing what I know. I know things have always been rough between us, but I at least wanted you to know that.”

Chloe’s face softened as she marvelled at the sincerity in Marinette’s eyes. “That means a lot. Seriously.”

“I mean every word,” Marinette promised.

Chloe sighed. “I’m….trying to be better. For you and for everyone else. Getting these powers makes me want to put the work in, and it matters to me a lot. It’s not gonna make up for how much garbage I’ve dished out to you over the years but at least it’s a start. Or that’s what I’m telling myself now.”

Marinette squeezed her hand again and this time Chloe squeezed back, a warmth growing in her cheeks that was due partly to happiness and partly to another feeling whirling in her chest that she didn’t have the words to name. “I appreciate that.”

Chloe grinned and drummed her fingers against her stomach. “You hungry yet?”

Marinette shut her eyes and turned her face to the sun. “Nah, we can stay here for a bit. I want to enjoy the flowers for a bit longer. That okay with you, bee?”

“Whatever you say, bug,” Chloe teased, keeping Marinette’s hand in hers and feeling the air between them clear out for the first time in years.

[alinette-coccinelle]

ML Winter Week Day 4 - Decorating

AO3

Chat Noir couldn’t help but wonder if it’d be too cliché to hum the pink panther tune as he vaulted silently across Paris in the dead of night. He wouldn’t normally be out so late, Akuma non-withstanding, but he had something particularly important to do today. Something for his Princess, his lady, his Mari.  

For the first time ever Marinette was going to be alone for Christmas, not alone-alone because he wouldn’t dream of letting her be alone on Christmas day just like she had given him a standing invite to her Christmases for the rest of his life, but alone as in without her parents. Sabine and Tom were off visiting relatives in China and whilst Mari had been invited she’d wanted to spend her holidays with her Teammates and friends (and as Alya had cheekily pointed out Ladybug was the industrial Akuma cleanser, so Paris needed her too.)

Being nearly 18 her parents had agreed to let her stay home if she checked in everyday, but this meant Marinette had spent all of December so far home-alone living above the closed Bakery. Adrien and the others tended to pop in often but he felt the emptiness of the house was starting to weigh on her holiday spirit; the tree was out but undecorated (she claimed this was because she was saving it for the team to decorate on Christmas eve), none of the bakery’s external lights had been put up and the glass windows had remained empty rather than displaying their usual winter time fare. It made a stark contrast to the glowing cheerful beacon of last year and after a quick Skype call to his second family holidaying in China he’d hatched a plan.

He landed silently on Marinette’s roof mentally noting proudly that he hadn’t even made a thud. Not the Marinette was likely to surface on a mid-winter night for anything other than an earthquake, she took the ladybugs hibernating thing seriously. This was the primary reason Chat was out at 3am in the middle of winter, that and he hadn’t wanted to be spotted by random Civilian’s decorating his girlfriend’s house. Happy he’d be undisturbed for the next few hours he pulled out the boxes he’d fetched and hidden with the Dupain-Cheng’s guidance in the past few days and began unpacking the decorations.

 ______

 It ended up taking him nearly 3 hours in the end, it turns out the processes of decorating was easier if you’d done it before and several times Adrien had caught himself detransforming to check with Plagg. Who was being surprisingly helpful under the promise of Mari’s cheese biscuits. At least he hadn’t had to worry about ladders, instead using his baton to vault around the building and string the lights. Now all he had to do was hit the switch on the outdoor plug and the bakery would be a festive beacon again.

But first he needed his bug! With a beamingly proud smile Chat pulled open the trap door to Marinette’s room, thankfully she’d stopped locking months ago when the team took to literally dropping in. He dropped straight down on her bed in a crouch, manging to land just to the side of the curled-up pile of blankets he knew was his princess.

“Princess?”

“Bug?”

“Mari?”

He tugged a corner of the blanket with each name, slowly trying to prise the cocoon free. He hadn’t got far when a jumper clad arm shot out of the blankets pulling him down into their warmth.

“Shush Kitty, it’s too cold.” Marinette’s bleary voice stumbled out at him. Her eyes still scrunched shut as she wrapped and arm around his waist, burying her face into his chest.

That had been her first mistake, the cool metal of the zip biting on her cheek. The second mistake had been her sitting bolt upright in shock, the blankets falling free to the chill air waking his sleepy bug immediately.

“Nooo! Why?! Why Minou?” her sad pout was worth the pillow to the face he got for laughing.

He chuckled some more before tucking the bigger blanket around her shoulders and dragging her towards the roof door. “Come on Bugnette, it’ll be worth it. Chats honour.”

Adrien knew she’d follow him anywhere when he shot her the cheeky smile and it was much easier to convince her to move out into the cold when he kept his arms around her and his warmth near her always. Once he’d got Mari situated on the roof he stepped briefly away from her to switch on the lights, craning his head to watch her face as they all switched on in one flashy go. He wasn’t disappointed as her face lit up in awe her eyes reflecting the twinkling lights in the dark.  

“Oh Chat…” her voice was full of awe as she reached towards him blindly too busy taking it all in. “It’s beautiful, did you do all this!”

Adrien met her half way, lacing his fingers through those of the hand reaching for him before wrapping his arms around her from the back and resting his chin on her shoulder, effectively encasing her in his arms and his warmth as he began to purr happily. His voice vibrating with the action “I had a little help, the tiny black cat kind.”

As she reached up to scratch behind his ears with her free hand Marinette paused. Humour lighting her expression. “Chat? Is that one a cat in a Santa hat?”

@miraculous-weeks 

This one is pure fluff and once again set in the same AU as the first 3 prompts, Post Reveal, aged-up, Full Team Miraculous but miraculous have side effects. (Mari hates winter, Adrien purrs)

Still running a little behind on these prompts but should have the others done by tomorrow! Yay! :3

[maitredesnavires]

25 Days of ML Christmas - Day 4: Snow

I can’t write less than 1,000 words. It’s not in my DNA. So here. Take it. 

Audiences: T

Word Count: 1827

AO3

The color drained from Chat Noir’s face. His bug was trapped in a globe that was quickly filling up with snow. She had used her lucky charm but the single match lay outside of her glass prison, completely useless. Ladybug’s panicked expression as she slammed her fists into the side had Chat’s heart reeling. He looked down at his useless glove, having already used Cataclysm to break an object the akuma had not actually been in. He rushed into an alley just before his transformation wore off.

“Here, Plagg,” Adrien roughly threw some camembert at his kwami before peering around the corner again. The snow was up to Ladybug’s waist already. Her movements were sluggish and she was losing out to some innate instinct that was obviously making her drowsy. Perhaps she took on some ladybug characteristics as he did a cat’s? He really didn’t want to find out what happened if she fully lost consciousness.

Adrien whipped around, ready to tell Plagg to hurry up but found his kwami had already polished off his cheese. He quirked an eyebrow and Plagg’s somber expression sent shivers down his spine that had nothing to do with the rapidly decreasing temperatures.

“Let’s go, kid. We’ve got a bug to save.” Adrien wasted no time in calling up his transformation, bounding out from behind a dumpster before the green light even finished fading.

The akuma who called himself Jack Frost was busy using an icicle to turn people into living ice sculptures and throwing snow globe grenades to trap others. Chat wanted to pummel him so bad but he needed to save his lady first. Save Ladybug, save everyone, he kept chanting to himself as he watched a young child turn to pure ice, her scream etched in the smooth glass. Save Ladybug, save everyone. He looked back to Ladybug just in time to see her eyes slide closed and then disappear in snow.

“Ladybug, no!” Chat’s cry was lost in the wind that was suddenly whipping around him. A chill had settled in his bones even with his magical suit. He turned to the akuma, his body set in rage. “You’re going to be sorry you hurt my buginette,” he growled at the man dressed in snow and ice.

“Give me your miraculous and I promise I’ll set her free,” the akuma sing-songed, believing he had Chat cornered. The leather clad hero grabbed a nearby icicle and used his claw to carve it into a sword.

“Never,” Chat lunged at the man who tried to block him with his own icicle wand which promptly snapped in half. A black butterfly flew out of what was now a broken icicle Christmas ornament. Jack Frost changed back into his civilian self but Chat didn’t seem to care. He raised his sword once more, fury filled his eyes as he locked onto his prey. The man cried out as Chat swiftly brought down his weapon. All of a sudden, it slammed into a green shield.

“Chat! Stop!” Carapace pleaded. “He’s de-akumatized. He didn’t know what he was doing, Chat! Go get Ladybug before it’s too late. We’ll take care of the butterfly.” The green hero waited until Chat had dropped his weapon, wide-eyed at what he had been about to do. Red and yellow flashed ahead and the man in front of him dashed off to join them in their chase.

Chat rushed over and stood in front of the snow globe. He’d not seen the aftermath of an akuma before without Ladybug’s miraculous cure. Parisians everywhere were trying to get people out of snow globes; he could hear the cries of those who still had love ones encased in ice. Was this the future without Ladybug’s magic? He shook the thought off. There were too many people here and too much time had passed, he had to get his lady out of the park that was quickly filling with people. He lifted the snow globe, surprisingly light in his transformed state, and bounded off.

~~~~~~~~

He had had to break his window to get her into his room but he didn’t care. No one was home anyway; his father and Nathalie were off on a “business” trip and Gorilla was still searching for him back at the park. Chat set the globe down in the middle of his room. He took a deep breath. There was no going back now.

“Cataclysm.” The black magic glowed around his hand. Using a single finger, he tapped the glass and watched as it fell away to ash. The trapped snow fell to the ground around him and he lunged forward to catch an unconscious Ladybug. Only, it wasn’t Ladybug. Marinette Dupain-Cheng fell into his arms. His masked and unmasked lives crashed together in an overwhelming wave of thoughts and emotions. His best friend was his, well, best friend. The girl who he had been chasing had been right behind him the entire time. He felt an itch in the back of his mind and he released his transformation. Plagg flew out of his ring and started digging through the snow, yelling a name Adrien didn’t recognize. He finally put the pieces together as the black cat dragged a red bug out of the melting pile on his floor. He cradled her in his arms, tears streaming down his face as he repeated her name over and over again. “Tikki. Tikki. Tikki, please. Tikki, wake up. Please, Tikki.”

~~~~~~~

Marinette was the first to stir. Adrien had been hard pressed to let her out of his sight but he had left to get extra blankets, hot water bottles, and hot tea if, no when, she woke up. He had also found a plate of cookies for Tikki, Ladybug’s kwami as he learned. Plagg had not left her, cuddling up next to her in a nest of warmth.

Marinette slowly blinked the sleep out of her eyes, realization dawning on her that she was not, in fact, at home. She did, however, recognize the room. She bolted upright only feel a cool breeze. She quickly grabbed at the sheets to cover her naked body, her eyes searching the room until she heard a crash.

~~~~~~~

The snacks that he had been bringing into the room fell unceremoniously out of his hands at the sight in front of him. His first reaction had been relief, relief that his lady had woken up and seemed to be out of harm’s way. His second was a rather swift rush of warmth to his core as he averted his eyes from the bare woman in front of him. The plate clattering to the floor.

“Adrien?! How did I get here?! What happened to the akuma?! WHY AM I NAKED?!” Marinette’s voice continued to raise an octave higher with every question. Adrien knew that he had to tell her everything. A voice that sounded a lot like his father’s sowed seeds of doubt in his heart. How would she take knowing he was Chat Noir? Would she be happy? Disgusted? Disappointed? He walked over, food forgotten on the floor, and gingerly sat on a chair next to the bed.

He told her about the akuma, which she remembered. He told her about the snow globe, to which she shivered at the memory. He told her that Carapace, Rena Rouge, and Queen Bee had captured the akuma and were keeping it in a special glass jar at Master Fu’s. He told her that he had carried her snow globe back to his room to keep her identity a secret from the masses. He told her that she had been soaking wet and freezing from the snow so he stripped her down (a deep blush forming from his ears to his chest,) and laid her in bed with all of the extra warmth he could find. Before anything else could register, she was calling out a familiar name.

“Tikki. Where’s Tikki? Is she okay?” Marinette sat up and looked around the room, just catching the sheet in the nick of time so as not to flash her crush...again.

“She’s with Plagg. She hasn’t woken up yet but he said that as a ladybug, she hibernates in the extreme cold. He’s not sure how long she’ll be asleep this time,” Adrien’s voice trailed off as he looked over at the mess of blankets in the drawer of his nightstand.

Adrien followed Marinette’s gaze as she found her sleeping kwami. She reached over but Plagg gave an uncharacteristic growl, protective of his hurt bug even from her own holder. Marinette just smiled and addressed the black god of destruction.

“Thank you, Plagg. Please keep her safe. I don’t know what I’d do without her.” Plagg’s expression softened but his arms wound tighter around his other half.

Suddenly, Marinette’s eyes widened and her head snapped back to Adrien. Her head flipped back and forth between the mini deity and the blond haired boy next to her.

“Chat…” she started timidly. Adrien gave her his most Chat-like grin.

“Well, hello, my lady. It’s so very nice to finally meet the girl under the mask,” he wiggled his eyebrows.

“Adrien...Agreste is...Chat Noir...Chat Noir is...Adrien Agreste. Oh mon dieu…” Marinette covered her face with her hands. A slight panic started in Adrien’s soul. Was she really that disappointed…?

Marinette burst out laughing. “Of course you’re Chat Noir. How have I never seen it before? The puns, the bows, the flirting. Oh my God, Adrien, you’re Chat Noir.” She continued laughing until tears formed at the corner of her eyes.

“And is that...a good thing…” Adrien offered, hope not yet completely squashed by his lady’s reaction.

“A good thing? Adrien, that’s a great thing. My best friend and long time crush is actually my nerdy partner who I trust with my life. How is that anything but amazing?” She looked at him incredulously. Adrien’s ears perked up at a very specific word she had used to describe him.

“Long time...crush...my lady?” Marinette blushed but smiled.

“Well, yeah. I’ve had a crush on Adrien Agreste since collège. You’re amazing, Adrien. So kind and caring and thoughtful. Of course you’re Chat Noir. He’s the same way.” She looked at her partner fondly. How she had been so blind was beyond her. Perhaps it was the magic of it all.

“Well, my lady, I’ve had a crush on you since collège,” Adrien smiled shyly. “I always knew I would love the girl under the mask. I just didn’t realize she would already be my best friend.” They’re eyes met and they both blushed even deeper.

“Oh, kitty,” Marinette leaned over, being sure to keep herself covered, and bopped his nose. “I’m so glad it’s you.”

“And I’m so glad it’s you, Marinette.” Adrien caught her hand and placed a chaste kiss on the inside of her wrist. Suddenly a small, high-pitched voice came from the side drawer.

“Marinette?”

[andrewuttaro]

State of the Support (S1 - Ep 7): One More Year

State of the Support will be a reoccurring series on the Rochester Rhinos Soccer team written from a fan perspective. This series will follow the ups and downs of Soccer Support in Rochester, NY in one of its most trying times in decades.  

The funny thing about writing about a soccer team that’s currently on haitus is that you learn to be creative. You imagine when this or that should happen based upon the facts you do know and some speculation. Most American professional soccer clubs go on haitus before folding, all professional American soccer clubs in this country that have gone on haitus for more than a year have folded. In an ironic way the Rochester Rhinos may add another first-in-the-nation accolade if the plan to return to the field in 2021 does in fact succeed.

From remaining the only non-MLS side to win the U.S. Open Cup in the MLS Era to winning four league titles and holding on as one of the country’s lower division mainstays for more than twenty years, the Rhinos would be adding an interesting new title to the Wikipedia page.

In a three-sentence update attributed directly to Rochester Rhinos co-owner David Dworkin, the owner restated him and his wife’s commitment to professional soccer in Rochester, NY. The update goes onto say they’re looking into “…the feasibility of numerous potential locations for a stadium the Rhinos can call home and we continue to have meaningful conversations with community stakeholders…”. It wraps up by confirming the club will not compete in the 2020 USL League One season while not committing to a return in the 2021 season. The statement serves as a proof of life directly from the club which hasn’t provided truly public disclosure of its plans in 15 months. The update went up Friday, December 13th but only appears on the Rhinos website via the ticker of the team’s tweets. Before we go into an extra tidbit about this not in the statement that I received from a source let’s just look at this at face value.

First things first: this update is a good thing. Say what you will about how similar it is to the late 2018 updates and how its even less informative than the Pat Ercoli interview in August; any public statement like this is preferable to total radio silence which at this point would be more indicative of a club entering the endgame. Say what you will about pushing back to 2021, I’ve talked that point to death in the prior episodes of this season of State of the Support, I’m not going repeat myself. David, Wendy and Pat sitting down and putting together this statement is a positive sign if for no other reason than it disproves the fears of diehards like me who last month speculated that the owners could be growing apathetic. This confirms they are not apathetic.

Not specifying a 2021 return is curious but Ercoli did say that in August and its safe to assume if you’re not folding or moving you want to come back as soon as possible. The mention of a stadium and “numerous potential locations” is wording we’ll pick apart for months I’m sure. It’s curious in that it vaguely implies there will be the construction of a building that does not currently exist but ultimately there’s nothing there we didn’t already know. The most interesting part of this statement in my opinion is the last sentence where David says: “…more updates will be provided as our search for a new stadium location progresses.” Forgive me for reading into this, David.

By more updates they must mean more than we’ve received this year, right? For the 20th anniversary of the aforementioned Open Cup Championship no year since the inception of the club has been more devoid of information on the Rhinos than 2019. Should we expect more regular updates, once maybe twice every three months, in 2020? That is not clear in the statement, but I have a trusted source telling me that something like that is the intention. My source tells me the plan is to have public updates throughout 2020. He says regular updates are expected at least leading into the late summer/early fall when USL League One announces the new clubs for the 2021 season. I trust this guy and I have no reason to think he’s not sure of that information. With that in mind it would appear there could be a ramping up of public disclosure, as if emerging from a hibernation. I think we all would welcome that.

So it’s One More Year. It’s official. It’s official from the owners themselves. The development vision Pat Ercoli put forward in August is the blueprint of a club that is focused on the development of local talent. The Junior Rhinos have operated continuously throughout the haitus, they never stopped under the direction of Greg Stanton. Stanton is the only person officially employed by the Front Office that isn’t a Dworkin or Pat Ercoli. Stranton’s very successful direction of the existing Youth Academy aside, its not secret the organization has taken considerable heat from local soccer parents opposed to their Academy even existing. It’s a conflict rooted in the squabbles of affluent suburbanites that at times did affect the professional outfit but ultimately didn’t catch the public headlines. Nonetheless it may crop back up again if and when the club returns as a development-first organization.

One More Year means another year forgotten by the general public of Rochester and greater Western New York. It’s my personal opinion that the Rhinos organization never had any reach into the Buffalo-Niagara region; however in this next year they run the risk of any new information coming out on the USLC Buffalo front and eroding any support west of Batavia that may have existed. One More Year also grants that much more time for NISA Rochester to become nothing… or very much something they now need to compete with.

But what One More Year means most clearly for the State of the Support is a culling. 2019 showed us even those who once gave their all to the Rhinos in supporters groups, online and financially, can all find better things to do with their time. One year, maybe even two years of haitus can be a nice personal break. Three years is a hot minute without your love. Big Rhinos fans have chosen other sides to support with their time and money, more than when the team was still playing. Diehards have even disappeared. If and when the club returns to the field in 2021, only the most passionate of passionate will remain to rebuild supporters culture. One More Year means a truly far-reaching purge of the fanbase.

All this is just words in the ether for now. This blog will be taking a break for a while now. Episode One of Season Two will occur… sometime in 2020. Keep your eyes open if you enjoy this. Follow me @UttaroSports on twitter and UttaroSportsPlus on Tumblr. The Rochester Rhinos are priority number one for me in domestic soccer but with none of them in 2020 I’ll be tweeting about plenty other domestic soccer happenings. If anyone in the Rhinos Front Office is readings this: thank you for sticking it out and whatever your next steps are don’t be afraid to be bold for a soccer city with as much rich tradition in the sport as Rochester! I do believe you guys when you say one day it will all make sense. I truly hope you’re right and I cannot wait to see it.

Let’s Go Rhinos!

[bonniejstarks]

FALL FRAGRANCES WITH A GOODBYE KISS FROM SUMMER

I will never understand people who want to wear their Fall purchases when it’s still warm out. I plan to dress like it’s summer until the first snowfall.

Of course, the second the mornings get chilly and I have to dig through closets for my hibernating sweaters, I will abandon this crazy dream of “seasonless dressing.”

Thanks for watching!Visit Website

And I’m hoping that a Fall scent that still bears a trace of summer will soften the blow.

floral street iris goddess

Floral Street Iris Goddess eau de parfum 50 mL (also available in 10 mL)

Powdery floral, when done right, exudes gentle softness without smelling like you dumped a container of baby powder on yourself.

Floral Street Iris Goddess is a velvety soft, violet-scented iris sprinkled with spicy chilli pepper (no, really) and a warming undercurrent of suede and musk notes for a powdery floral that thinks it’s a skin scent.

A vegan brand packaged in recycled and recyclable boxes, UK-based Floral Street is committed to creating fine fragrances that don’t make your wallet cry out from pain.

$34 CAD/$26 USD (10mL) and $99 CAD/$75 USD at Sephora.

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Thanks for watching!Visit Website

ysl libre

YSL Libre eau de parfum 50 mL (also available in 90 mL)

YSL Libre is what happens when you inject a soft, candy centre of sweet orange, lavender and white flowers into a classically masculine earthy ‘fougère’ scent.

The sexy, mossy exterior reveals a swooningly feminine heart when you get up close. It’s like the contrast of wearing a silk shirt under a well-loved leather jacket.

And the bottle is the best use of a logo we’ve ever seen, with its oversized, wrap-around YSL letters encircling the bottle’s base like a chunky gold bracelet.

From $125 CAD at Hudson’s Bay, Nordstrom and Sephora; from $78 USD at nordstrom.com

bottega veneta illusione for her

This photo of our friend and television style personality Liv Judd, exemplifies both Fall’s fashion crush on the colour loden, and the big trend towards monochromatic dressing.

Bottega Veneta Illusione for Her eau de parfum 50 mL (also available in 75 mL)

New Bottega Veneta Illusione for Her eau de parfum captures the vibe of this outfit perfectly. The scent is sunny and almost juicy, with black currant and green fig leaves shot through with sunlit orange blossom and bergamot (that wonderful herby-smelling citrus with green, grapefruity depth.) At its core is a darker green note of olivewood doing all the load-bearing and holding the whole thing together.

From $145 CAD at Hudson’s Bay and $123 USD at nordstrom.com

gucci mémoire d’une odeur

Gucci Mémoire d’une Odeur 60 mL (also available in 7.4 mL, 40 mL and 100 mL)

A “shared fragrance” for both sexes, Gucci Mémoire d’une Odeur is an elegy to summer with jasmine, cedar and a surprising chamomile note creating a sepia-tinted memory of walking through a sunbaked field on an sunny August day, your feet crunching over late summer grasses and flowers. At its heart is enough sun-warmed musk to make it feel like it’s rising off your skin.

Gucci Mémoire d’une Odeur possible bottle inspiration

To me, the bottle is reminiscent of Italicus Rosolio di Bergamoto liqueur. But to perfume writer and self-described perfume whisperer Jane Daly, it echoes Revlon Moondrops’ vintage fragrance bottle (she has one in her extensive archives) and I think she’s closer to the truth.

Inspiration is everywhere, people.

From $116 CAD at Hudson’s Bay and Holt Renfrew*, from $92 CAD at Shoppers Drug Mart* and from $41 CAD at Sephora; from $95 USD at nordstrom.com and Sephora

givenchy l’interdit eau de toilette

Givenchy L’Interdit eau de toilette 50 mL (also available in 80 mL)

A lighter version of last year’s L’Interdit eau de parfum, Givenchy L’Interdit eau de toilette takes big, bold tuberose (there’s nothing bolder than tuberose) and sunny orange blossom but then mellows them with musk and dirties them up with patchouli. The result is lightness (this is an eau de toilette after all) that’s all elegance but with a f***ed up undercurrent thanks to the patchouli and some resinous vetiver.

It’s like wearing a beautiful frothy dress to a party then heading to a diner at the end of the night to eat fries before bed, to sop up all the champagne you consumed. Elegant but stealthily earthy. 

From $99 CAD at Hudson’s Bay and $118 CAD Shoppers Drug Mart*

•  •  •  •  •

now you

What’s your go-to sliding-into-Fall fragrance?

If you don’t already have a favourite for the beginning of Fall, does anything in this post appeal to you?

When summer’s official end-date has passed, how do you approach getting into your Fall wardrobe? Do you wait in dread until you have to? Or eagerly await the first crisp morning?

shoppity shop-shop

PRsamples✓affiliatelinks✓ *Holt Renfrew and Shoppers Drug Mart are non-affiliate links ©2019BEAUTYGEEKS imabeautygeek.com

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The post FALL FRAGRANCES WITH A GOODBYE KISS FROM SUMMER appeared first on Trends Dress.

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10 Things About MLS veteran and two-time World Cup referee Mark Geiger

Amy Kontras-USA TODAY Sports

June 14, 201811:33AM EDT

A familiar face to MLS players, coaches and fans is about to feature on hundreds of millions of screens across the planet.

Veteran MLS referee Mark Geiger is in Russia, the most experienced member of the five-member delegation of American and Canadian referees from the Professional Referee Organization (PRO) selected by the FIFA Referees Committee for the 2018 World Cup.

No league in the world has sent more refs to Russia than MLS, and no one in that delegation is more experienced than Geiger, who is taking part in his second World Cup after working on five matches in Brazil four years ago.

A two-time MLS Referee of the Year, Geiger made history in Brazil, becoming the first American to referee a match in the World Cup knockout stages when he handled the France vs. Nigeria round-of-16 match. He got there by being evaluated as one of the tournament’s top performers, and his good work also earned him a role as the fourth official in Germany’s stunning 7-1 semifinal win over the host nation.

He’s hoping for another strong run this summer. Here’s a few things you should know about Mark Geiger:

1. His first World Cup game was his most memorable one

Geiger’s World Cup debut | Action Images

Besides the aforementioned “Mineirazo” in Belo Horizonte, Geiger was on duty for other shocking occasions in Brazil – the Uruguay-Italy game in which Luis Suarez infamously bit Giorgio Chiellini, as well as Chile’s unexpected upset of Spain to send the defending champions home early. But Colombia vs. Greece is the most prominent in his memory, because it was his World Cup debut.

“It’s our first World Cup match, and there are going to be some doubts in your mind. You’re going to wonder if you’re ready for this type of level of play. You’re going to wonder if you’re prepared. So there’s a little bit of anxiety,” he recalled in a conversation with MLSsoccer.com.

“We walked out from the tunnel and my body just reacted – the emotions came over me and I just started laughing as soon as we heard the anthem. The goosebumps started going and that was how my body reacted. It was incredible. Going up a few steps, grabbing a ball, being out there for the anthems was just overwhelming. But then once the first whistle blows, now we’re down to business, now I’m in familiar territory again and the game went well, and I knew I was ready to handle the pressures and handle the environment of a World Cup match.”

2. He pulls no punches

Geiger’s PRO colleague Jair Marrufo is also headed to Russia – it’s his first World Cup – and when he asked Geiger to compare it to the FIFA youth tournaments they’d both officiated in the past, he got a dose of blunt honesty.

“Mark, because of his Brazil experience, I asked him if it’s pretty much the same,” recalled Marrufo with a chuckle. “He goes, ‘Yeah, it’s pretty much the same – just 10 times more pressure! The whole world is watching.’”

Said Geiger: “Many millions and millions of people are watching the game, and scrutinizing every decision that you make. Obviously there are pressures in Major League Soccer, but it just gets amplified in a World Cup … It’s an incredible feeling to know that you’re part of that, and taking part in a match in that type of a venue.”

3. He digs Video Review

A lot hard work and preparation goes into training and developing a VAR for FIFA #WorldCup, as Mark Geiger explains ️⚽️

More information 👉 https://t.co/gb5YPlQu9g#FootballTechnology pic.twitter.com/lPCfaPT38Y

— FIFA World Cup 🏆 (@FIFAWorldCup) June 9, 2018

Geiger, Marrufo and their fellow PRO officials will have the opportunity to put their familiarity with MLS’ Video Review system to use in Russia, with FIFA putting a similar process into place for the first time in the tournament’s history. Some people aren’t sold on the technology, but for Geiger it’s a no-brainer.

“I’ve enjoyed being a VAR, to be able to assist the referee and help them be successful in their matches,” he said. “And it’s been a godsend for me as a referee as well, because the last thing we want to do is influence a match. We don’t want to be the reason that a team lost or a team doesn’t go through to the next round. So anything that can help us get the decision right on the field, we’re going to be open to.”

4. He’s thankful for the timing of the MLS calendar

MLS’ spring-to-fall schedule means that the World Cup falls in midseason, unlike many European leagues that finished last month. Geiger believes that makes it easier for him and his fellow referees to be in peak form.

“Any time you get towards the end of a season,” he explained, “mentally you start coming down after your final match at the end of the season. Your mind kind of goes into hibernation until you have to pick up again. So to be in the middle of our season, when we’re in full swing and match fitness, ready to go, I think that’s going to be a benefit for us.”

5. He’s been refereeing longer than he’s been driving

Geiger’s officiating career began way back at the dawn of his teenage years, and he’s methodically climbed the ladder of the profession ever since.

“I started reffing at 13, just as a way to make a few extra bucks – it was better than working at McDonald’s or Burger King,” he said. “I would go out there on Saturday and Sunday, ref as many games as I could, and that was the way I made money as a teenager.

“Once MLS came around in 1996 I made it a goal of mine to make myself better and try to get myself one match in Major League Soccer. I wanted to get out on the field and work with those players. So that became my target, my goal … as I went through my career, you reset your expectations, you reset your goals. So I got my MLS games under my belt and I was like, let’s try to get this FIFA badge. Once I became a FIFA referee I was like, ‘let’s try to work towards a World Cup.’ So you always have that carrot in front of you that you’re trying to work towards or get to.”

6. He plans to keep going as long as he can

FIFA once required referees to step down from the top level of their craft at age 45. That age limit was removed in 2014, allowing refs to continue working as long as they passed their fitness and technical evaluations. Geiger turns 44 in August and has no plans to ride into the sunset any time soon.

“[In] MLS, we have guys in their early 50s that are still on the field, passing the tests and doing well out on the pitch,” he said. “We’ll see how well my body holds out. I think once you’re in your 40s, you start taking it year by year and see what happens, sort of like the players towards the end of their careers as well.”

7. He was a high-school math teacher for 17 years

Geiger juggled refereeing with a teaching job in his native New Jersey until he got the chance to become a full-time ref in 2013. He still uses much the same toolkit, though.

“It’s funny,” he said. “In the classroom you have 30 different personalities that you have to manage and reach out to, and on a soccer field you have 22 different personalities – and it’s the same thing. You’re managing those players just like you manage students. A lot of the skills are the same.”

8. He almost always throws up before matches

That’s just one of many fascinating details in writer Robert Andrew Powell’s long-form feature on Geiger in Howler magazine earlier this year. Mind you, those pregame nerves settle once the ball gets rolling.

“We have the best seat in the house,” he said of his job. “Who can say that they’re out on the field with some of the biggest stars in the world, best athletes in the world? We’re running right alongside these guys, and watching them showcase their skills out on the field. For me it’s just been thrilling.”

9. He prefers to work high-level games

Our Men’s Team may not be going to Russia, but @ussoccer_ref is sending two…yes 2, referees to Russia. Congratulations to Jair Marrufo and Mark Geiger and 2 AR’s, Frank Anderson and @coreyrock who will represent @ussoccer well at the @FIFAWorldCup https://t.co/Zh3zB2FnTw

— John Paul Motta (@JohnPMotta) March 30, 2018

You might think that the best players and teams make for a tougher job for the men and women with the whistles, but that’s not Geiger’s experience.

“If it’s a lower-level match, it’s actually very difficult to read. It’s very difficult to figure out where the ball’s going to go next,” he explained. “You’re going to have more giveaways, you’re going to have changes in possession a lot more, which makes it very difficult for the referee. The challenges may become sloppier as well.

“The skill level has been getting much, much better in MLS – not that it was bad at any point, but it’s getting to a very high level and it makes the game easier for us to read. Now of course with that there’s more pressure on each match. But it’s something that we like to take on, certainly.”

10. He puts in the work

Panama protest a Geiger call in the 2015 Gold Cup | USA Today Sports Images

Geiger knows fierce criticism comes with the territory – “you talk to any fan, they’re not going to like the referees in their country – that’s going to happen all over the world,” he notes. But if there’s one thing Geiger wants you to understand, it’s the all-encompassing nature of his job.

“We put in so much time from a fitness standpoint, also time from an education standpoint – we’re watching as many games as we can, we’re trying to learn the players, we’re trying to learn the teams more intimately,” he said. “We’re looking at videos of situations, trying to decide how we would handle a situation. We do a lot of analysis to make sure we are consistent as a group. So it really is a full-time gig. We are working throughout the week when there aren’t matches, to make sure that we’re prepared for the weekend’s match. It’s more than just coming out and blowing our whistle for 90 minutes and going home.”

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10 Things About MLS veteran and two-time World Cup referee Mark Geiger was originally published on 365 Football

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Making Sense Of The Drop In Average Home Price

TorontoRealtyBlog

Maybe I’m just opening up another can of worms here, but I want to go back to last week’s epic discussion about the average Toronto home price, my predictions about the possibility of an increase in that statistic this fall, and an examination of where that number comes from.

Many will suggest that a Realtor trying to downplay the significance of a negative statistic is just more snake-oil selling, but I think my regular readers know that I write what I believe.

I really, truly believe that the $732,292 number representing the average sale price of a Toronto home this past August is misleading, so allow me to explain why…

The stakes have never been higher for bulls and bears.

The bears smell blood in the water, and they’re coming out of an epic hibernation.

The bulls believe in their position, and will defend it until the bitter end.

In a market of ups and downs, short and long term, I think it’s fair to say that both bears and bulls can be correct, at the same time.

But in the past week, I have never seen the kind of passion, and at times, animosity, coming from the mouths (and fingertips) of said bulls and bears.

Even politics doesn’t get this messy.

Last Tuesday’s blog post spawned a record near-200 comments, and while many of the comments were from a handful of loyal and passionate blog readers, engaging in a very rare – for the 2017 Internet, un-moderated debate, an incredible number of people weighed in with their opinions on the future of Toronto real estate.

I usually know when I’m about to light a fire, and walk away.

If you’ve been reading TRB for a decade, you know that sometimes I’ll post a blog because I know it’s going to result in debate.

But to be honest, I had no idea what a hurricane last Tuesday’s blog was about to cause.

My predictions were honest, and so I thought, reasonable.

Dare I say, in my mind, they were obvious.

The average sale price in Toronto fell to $732,292 this past August, from a peak of $920,791 in April.  Everybody and their drunk mother know this number will be higher by the end of September.

Right?

So I thought, perhaps rather naively.

Perhaps I underestimated the number of market bears out there, and while some have suggested that the “bulls” and “bears” label are too form-fitting and restrictive, I really do think that there’s little room for an in-between.

A cynic would suggest that the bulls own real estate, and the bears do not.

I could easily create a fictional “bear” who passionately, and at times of late, aggressively, states his or her position on Internet forums.  This is a would-be 2007 real estate buyer, who heard the market was going to tank, and held off on purchasing.  The $1,000,000 house that he or she eyed in 2007, gained, and gained, and gained, hitting somewhere in the neighbourhood of $2,400,000 earlier this year.  “Denial” isn’t a river in Egypt; it’s a character trait that we all possess, and many demonstrate in times of complete and utter dismay.

If I were a person who read the wrong article, took the wrong advice, or believed so hard in my own hope/dream/prayer that I cost myself a lifetime of tax-free capital gains I would never make back, then I might be angry too.

But reading the comments on many online newspaper articles, I just can’t get over the level of anger that exists.

Anger.

Real, true, anger.

It’s present in every comment section of every newspaper article about real estate this month.

I’m blessed to have a readership on TRB that is far more savvy, informed, and respectful, than what trolls around the Internet.  TRB’s bulls and bears throw statistics like adults; not feces like monkeys.

But online – just, wow, I can’t get over it.

The Globe & Mail wrote just about the only positive article about the Toronto real estate market last week: “The Buyers Are Back In Toronto’s Housing Market.”

The comments, which have now been closed, were beyond angry.

Many readers took to calling this “fake news” and suggested that there was some sort of conspiracy between the Toronto Real Estate Board and the Globe & Mail to publish false information.

Here’s a sample of the comments:

“Yet another sponsored article by TREB/agents.”

“This article is FAKE NEWS!  This market is about to plummet another 20-30%.”

“This is complete propaganda from the RE industry! G&M needs the cash (advertisement) and will print anything these guys will tell them to.”

“G&M you will go bankrupt if you continue to post realtor propaganda. Pathetic and laughable article.”

Where does all this anger come from?

And tell me if I’m wrong here, folks, but I believe that you are far, far more likely to predict a market crash if you want it to happen, then if you don’t.

I also think that the people that are the most angry, and screaming the loudest – throwing around “fake news” tags like those above, are far less likely to own real estate.

I’m not saying that all market bears are non-owners of real estate.  But I’m saying that not owning real estate is a fantastic reason to have a bearish outlook, and delude yourself into thinking a 50% market crash is coming.

So with that out of the way, and keeping in mind that this was just supposed to be the lead-in for the actual meat of today’s blog, let me get back to the decline in average home price.

I made two statements last week that I think many people disagreed with:

1) The average sale price of a Toronto home will increase in September and October, over that of August.

2) The average sale price of a Toronto home, reported in August, of $732,292, is misleading.

I stand by both of those statements, and today, I’m going to double down.

The reason why I ‘predicted’ that the average sale price in Toronto would increase in September and October isn’t because, as some commenters suggested, I was biased, or cheerleading, or pumping tires, or “trying to change the psychology of the buyer pool” (which was flattering, for somebody to think one blog post on the entirety of the Internet could have that effect), but rather because I figured that was a slam dunk.

The average sale price dropped 20% from April to August.

But the value of Toronto homes didn’t drop 20%, or anywhere near it.

This is what I mentioned last week, and have said in a number of media interviews – that the average home price decreasing 20% on paper has not translated in practice.

Not even close.

Yes, the average sale price reported by TREB has dropped from $920,791 in April to $732,292 this past August.

But I, or anybody else, nor you if you tried, can find a $1,000,000 house that’s selling for $800,000, or a $500,000 condo that’s selling for $400,000.

So ladies and gentlemen, get ready to throw the “fake news” tag at me when I suggest that the average sale price reported in July and August does not reflect the average value.

The two simply are not aligned.

Yes, I agree that values are down, the market has changed, the market has declined, the psychology has changed, and we’re in a far more balanced market.  The spring conditions are long-gone.

But the numbers, on which the media, and the bears, want to focus, are exacerbating and exaggerating the decline.

Over the past month, I have offered two reasons for this:

1) Fewer houses are sold in the summer, as the housing market is more cyclical than the condo market.

2) Far fewer luxury houses are sold in the summer, because luxury homes are always marketed in the spring.

So let’s look back through the first eight months of 2017, and see how each of the nine home-types that TREB tracks represented all the home sales, on a percentage basis.

Many of you won’t be familiar with these home types, but I figured I’d show them all, as TREB does.

A “link” house is a freehold, which is linked underground via the foundation, but might not be linked above ground, like a semi or a row.

A “co-op” apartment and a “co-ownership” are essentially the same thing, as far as I’m concerned.  Both fall under the “condo” umbrella.

A “detached condo” is something, to be quite honest, I have never seen and really don’t understand, and perhaps that’s why the numbers are so low.

In any event, you know what detached, semi-detached, and rowhouses are (the latter shows as att/row/twn on MLS for attached-rowhouse-townhouse, simply meaning it’s attached at both sides), and you know what condo apartments and condo townhouses are.  The rest are such small percentages, that they’re not really important.

Here’s how the percentages break down:

I think it’s important to note, more than anything, how the percentage of detached homes, which are the holy-grail of houses, and clearly the most expensive, peaks in April at 49.1%, which of course, we know as the peak of the average home price, and valleys in August at 40.6%.

Coincidence?

Or correlation?

Those nine categories are confusing, and unnecessary, and I’ve really only included them to be exact.

Let’s add together the freeholds (detached, semi-detached, rowhouse, link house) and label them “Freehold,” and add together the condos (condo townhouse, condo apartment, co-ops, detached condo, and co-ownerships), and label them “Condo.”

Again, we see the trend continue.

The month of April saw 67.3% of all sales represented by freeholds.

That number dropped dramatically to 60.3% in August.

You might think 6% is insignificant; a ’rounding error’ you might say.

But if the average freehold price in Toronto was, say, $1,000,000 in August, and the average condo price was $500,000, then seeing 6% fewer freehold and 6% more condos in August, than in April, is clearly going to change the resulting average sale price.

If we saw the same 67.3% and 32.6% ratio of freehold to condos in August, as we saw in April, the $732,292 would be significantly higher.

If we’re truly going to compare apples to apples, and compare the average sale price in April to the average sale price in August, then we need to consider what the average is averaging.

In this case, we’re averaging a different set of data: far fewer houses, and far more condos.

We all know that the real estate market is more cyclical for houses than it is for condos.

Who owns houses?  Primarily families.

What do families do in the summer?  They vacation.  They send the kids to camp.  They do not diligently and feverishly partake in the real estate market, as they do in the spring, and the fall.

That “average sale price” in August is skewed because of the sample being taken.

And it’s for this reason, going back to my blog from last Tuesday, that I figured I had a “slam dunk” prediction when I said the average sale price in September will be higher than August.

I still believe that.

As to my second point, about the luxury home market, consider the following:

Now first and foremost, I don’t consider a $2,000,000 home to be “luxury” in Toronto any more, but TREB uses this as the highest price point tracked, so let’s work with what we’ve got.

Just as I suggested that there are more houses, as a percentage of sales, sold in the spring than in the summer, I am have suggested that the same is true with respect to the higher-end homes.

This chart proves that.

We saw another peak (a continuing theme) in April with 10.1% of all sales for detached houses topping $2,000,000.

in August, that number plummeted to 4.3%.

Once again, you have to figure this will have an affect on the average sale price.

Those $3 Million, $4 Million, and $5 Million homes that were listed in the spring, were not listed in the summer.

And while you might say, “If home prices decreased, then a $2,100,000 house that sold in April, and is included in those 579 sales, would sell for $1,990,000 in August, and wouldn’t be included in the 112 sales,” I would agree, but, I would suggest that we’re talking about a literal handful of properties that fit that description.

For the most part, we’re talking about 6% fewer luxury homes being sold in August, than in April.

–

Bottom line, folks: I’m telling you from experience in this market, that the 20% drop in average sale price, on paper, has not translated to an actual 20% drop in sale price, in practice.

I’m not seeing out there, and neither are my colleagues.

Ask your friend from work who is looking at houses every weekend – the drop isn’t there.

5%, 10%, whatever you want to call it, depending on the location, and property type.

But just as I “predicted” last Tuesday that many buyers would be caught off guard with respect to market dynamics, I also think they’ll be caught off guard by market price.

Just as they’ll be caught off guard if they’re not expecting to see “offer nights” on freehold houses, and houses selling quickly, they’ll be caught off guard if they’re looking at a block of houses worth $1,000,000 in the spring, thinking they’re going to pick one up for $800,000.

To answer a few commenters from last Tuesday’s blog – yes, if I’m wrong about the average sale price increasing in September, I will absolutely admit that I was wrong, and post a photo of myself on Instagram wearing a dunce cap.

So long as you understand and acknowledge that after ten years of blogging on TRB, I write what I believe to be true, not what I want to be true.  The formula for many market bears, ironically, is the exact opposite…

The post Making Sense Of The Drop In Average Home Price appeared first on Toronto Real Estate Property Sales & Investments | Toronto Realty Blog by David Fleming.

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[365footballorg-blog]

Armchair Analyst: Your complete guide to the Week 6 MLS slate

April 6, 201811:36AM EDT

Here we go into Week 6. We’re about three weeks from “You are what your record says you are” territory.

Let’s take a look at what’s about to unfold:

FRIDAY’S GAME

New England Revolution vs. Montreal Impact

7 pm ET | FULL PREVIEW | TV & streaming info

The Revs are, after four games, above the playoff line. So are the Impact after their four games. Neither is exactly running away with things – New England’s goal differential is +1 and Montreal are dead even – but both have been tougher outs than most expected entering the season. Add another data point to the “MLS is unpredictable” compendium.

There are strong similarities and big differences as to how these two teams play. For one, they foul a lot, with the Impact committed 15.5 fouls per game (most in the league) and the Revs 14.8 (second), so expect it to be a bloodbath. For two, neither wants the ball much, as the Revs are down near the bottom of the league in possession (42%) and the Impact aren’t much better (46%). My guess is neither Brad Friedel nor Remi Garde even works on “possession” in training, and that all the focus is on “transition.”

And largely because of that we get to the third similarity: when they generate chances they’re much more likely to come off of a short pass near the 18 than they are off of any kind of knockdown or cross. Each team will use the long-ball, but they do so in order to create a scenario in which they’ll win the second ball and then go direct.

The main difference comes from how they each use the dribble. Montreal lead the league with nearly 17 successful dribbles per game, while the Revs are dead last with 7 per game. This is a function of two things. First is that the Impact have Ignacio Piatti and the Revs don’t. Second is that Garde has his side play in a low- or mid-block and then break into space – very inviting for quality 1v1 players – while Friedel has his team pressed up in a higher block that’s based more around pass-and-move.

Honestly I’m not sure what to think of either of these teams yet. The Revs, as constructed, lack real playmaking and I’m not convinced that their backline is going to hold together over the course of an entire season (think Piatti’s going to miss those opportunities Alberth Elis squandered last week?). Montreal seem to have more promise, but even up a man against a bad Sounders team last weekend they weren’t convincing.

SATURDAY’S SLATE

Atlanta United vs. LAFC

5 pm ET | FULL PREVIEW | TV & streaming info

Did the Galaxy expose a couple of things about LAFC last weekend? Maybe. If so, the big one was that LAFC’s commitment to playing out of the back can leave them open to bad turnovers – as happened on the first Galaxy goal – and another big one was that if you deny their deep distributors, you can do a nice job of removing Carlos Vela and Diego Rossi from the game at least a little bit.

Gotta do that:

The challenge for Atlanta will be “how do we do that with a team missing so many crucial pieces?” They’ll be without two backline starters due to injury, and d-mid Jeff Larentowicz left last weekend’s game with what looked like a pretty bad ankle injury, and Leandro Gonzalez Pirez is suspended.

So the plan will be to press LAFC high and force those wonderful turnovers, right? Right. But the downside to that is once LAFC play through the press (which they will on occasion) they’ll be going against a mostly second-choice collection of players in deep midfield and on the backline.

One of my usual refrains is “You don’t win with 11 or even 18 in the MLS regular season; you have to win with 30.” Meaning that unless you have extraordinary luck you’re going to have to go well into your roster to find answers every now and again if you’re going to be a truly elite team in this league.

That’s where we are for Atlanta United this week. This game isn’t remotely a test of how high their ceiling is, but instead it’s a test of how high their floor can be. If they play well they’ll have confirmed their bona fides as an apex Supporters’ Shield contender.

Philadelphia Union vs. San Jose Earthquakes

7 pm ET | FULL PREVIEW | TV & streaming info

The Union’s young defense (youngest in league history, as per Elias) got a lesson last week in Colorado as Dom Badji battered them throughout the whole second half. I don’t think there was anything structurally wrong with how Philly played, to be honest. It was just a case of young players struggling on the road.

Philly’s structural issues look more like they’re coming in attack, where high-priced newcomers David Accam and Borek Dockal have both struggled. Neither have registered a goal nor an assist, and the Union have actually failed to score an even strength goal this season (they destroyed the Revs in Week 1 after going up two men).

It’s not panic time yet, especially since the Quakes have been very good about allowing opposing attacking midfielders into very friendly spots. I.e., this:

Look at how easily and quickly SKC were able to get on the ball between the lines of San Jose’s midfield and defense. That’s been a recurring theme through 270 Quakes minutes this year, and if they don’t tighten it up then there’s a good bet one of Accam or Dockal – or both – get off the schneid this weekend.

FC Dallas vs. Colorado Rapids

8 pm ET | FULL PREVIEW | TV & streaming info

This will be FCD’s fourth straight home game to start the season. They’re unbeaten so far, but 1-0-2 is nothing to write home about, especially since the only W was against a Seattle team that’s still hibernating. I’m not going to call this a “must-win” game, but damn is it one they definitely don’t want to drop points from.

And they might! Colorado have been ugly (they lead the league in long-balls per game by a mile) but they’re opportunistic and well-drilled at the back:

17′ . Wilson switches men, follows Sapong to the corner, and Smith comes into the middle and covers. Simple defending, also smart and intuitive. #COLvPHIpic.twitter.com/Ujo00ffMK0

— Rapids Rabbi (@rapidsrabbi) April 4, 2018

Passing assignments off like that is essential if you’re going to play a 5-3-2, which they’ve done since Day 1.

Expect the Rapids to have to do a lot of that. And then long balls up to Badji in the other direction. Route 1 has been kind enough to them this year, and if Badji continues his hot finishing, they’ll continue to collect results.

Chicago Fire vs. Columbus Crew SC

8:30 pm ET | FULL PREVIEW | TV & streaming info

Will Bastian Schweinsteiger play as a sweeper? He did for an hour last weekend, and it was a sword that cut both ways:

Getting an extra man into central midfield at odd times is the point of the sweeper, and it worked well on offense. Having Schweinsteiger sit deep and contest in the box is, however, a recipe for giving up quality chances to opposing wingers and center forwards.

We know that Columbus know a thing or two about generating those exact types of chances. I’m not sure there’s a good choice here for Veljko Paunovic, and if it was me I think I’d toss Homegrown rookie CB Grant Lillard (finally healthy) right into the XI, because through three games nothing else has really worked.

Real Salt Lake vs. Vancouver Whitecaps

9:30 pm ET | FULL PREVIEW | TV & streaming info

Through four games the RSL defense has been unsustainably – damn near impossibly – bad. Their expected goals per game differential is -1.30, which is a number even those awful Chivas USA teams couldn’t touch back in the day. Save for the first 45 minutes of the year at FC Dallas, they’ve been getting run no matter who they’re facing.

Who’s to blame? Let’s narrow it down and say everyone. The frontline has been slow to put pressure on the ball, which means that they’re easy to play through. The central midfield hasn’t been in sync and have allowed simple off-the-ball movement to confound them, which means there are always passing and running lanes. And that’s forced the defense to scramble, which nobody’s been particularly good at.

Nick Rimando’s been fine. He’s had one excellent game this season, which just so happened to be RSL’s only win (1-0 over the Red Bulls, almost entirely due to a vintage Rimando performance).

This is a systemic thing with RSL, who are playing with no conviction or decisiveness on either side of the ball. Even if their overall game plan is bad, you can still elevate said plan to “well, I guess that’s OK enough” if you play with effort and cohesiveness. That’s not what RSL have done.

That is what Vancouver have done. They’re going to sit deep once again, have maaaaaybe 40% of the ball, and punch holes in the Claret-and-Cobalt defense on the counter. They did it at Houston last month in a 2-1 road win, and they did it at Columbus last week in a 2-1 road win. Those are two of the better teams in the league.

SUNDAY SLATE

Orlando City vs. Portland Timbers

4 pm ET | FULL PREVIEW | TV & streaming info

The big question I have heading into this one is “Will Orlando City stick with the 4-2-3-1 that served them so well in attack last weekend?” I think the switch to that formation could be the turning point in their season:

I’ll be shocked if it’s anything but that, to be honest.

On the other side of the pitch will be a Portland team that’ve primarily been a 4-3-2-1 the past few weeks – the old Christmas tree formation that is usually used to shore up defensive shortcomings. It’s done so at least a little bit as the Timbers have taken two road points from their last two games (though the bigger reason for recent improvement is probably the return to fitness of Diego Chara). 

If I were Portland I’d scroll up to that Schweinsteiger video above and take a look at how he undressed the Timbers on that first Chicago goal, picking the ball up deep and dribbling into the heart of the midfield. Yoshi Yotun is no Schweinsteiger, but he’s nonetheless very good and should be playing as a deep-lying midfielder in this one. If and when Sacha Kljestan is able to occupy Chara, watch for Yotun to burst forward into the space that creates and put Portland’s backline under pressure.

LA Galaxy vs. Sporting KC

9 pm ET | FULL PREVIEW | TV & streaming info

So obviously we all saw what Zlatan did last weekend, and that rightfully stole the headlines. But let’s focus on two big shifts Sigi Schmid made and give him his due.

After halftime he had Servando Carrasco (and then Carrasco’s replacement, Baggio Husidic) press higher upfield to disrupt LAFC’s distribution. this was a risk that paid off.

When he brought Ibrahimovic on, he didn’t stay with the 4-2-3-1. He switched to an old-fashioned 4-4-2 and dominated the wings by pushing the fullbacks (but especially Ashley Cole) forward.

These were good, smart adjustments and speak to a level of tactical flexibility that the Galaxy have even when playing without their three DPs. It’ll be incumbent upon Schmid to figure it out week-by-week, though so far, so good.

Same probably goes for Sporting KC, who are atop the West on both points and PPG despite a weirdly leaky defense and a weirdly potent attack. How well that attack functions this weekend is an open question given that Felipe Gutierrez left last weekend’s win with an undisclosed injury and his replacement, Yohan Croizet, has been… let’s call it “underwhelming.”

As for the defense, after a miserable first 280 minutes of the season, they’ve looked something like the SKC of old over the last 170. Get a result here, on the road, and it’s probably fair to assume they’re back.

One more thing to ponder…

Ever wonder how rolled turf is made?

Happy weekending, everybody.

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MLSsoccer.com News

Armchair Analyst: Your complete guide to the Week 6 MLS slate was originally published on 365 Football

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Making Sense Of The Drop In Average Home Price

TorontoRealtyBlog

Maybe I’m just opening up another can of worms here, but I want to go back to last week’s epic discussion about the average Toronto home price, my predictions about the possibility of an increase in that statistic this fall, and an examination of where that number comes from.

Many will suggest that a Realtor trying to downplay the significance of a negative statistic is just more snake-oil selling, but I think my regular readers know that I write what I believe.

I really, truly believe that the $732,292 number representing the average sale price of a Toronto home this past August is misleading, so allow me to explain why…

The stakes have never been higher for bulls and bears.

The bears smell blood in the water, and they’re coming out of an epic hibernation.

The bulls believe in their position, and will defend it until the bitter end.

In a market of ups and downs, short and long term, I think it’s fair to say that both bears and bulls can be correct, at the same time.

But in the past week, I have never seen the kind of passion, and at times, animosity, coming from the mouths (and fingertips) of said bulls and bears.

Even politics doesn’t get this messy.

Last Tuesday’s blog post spawned a record near-200 comments, and while many of the comments were from a handful of loyal and passionate blog readers, engaging in a very rare – for the 2017 Internet, un-moderated debate, an incredible number of people weighed in with their opinions on the future of Toronto real estate.

I usually know when I’m about to light a fire, and walk away.

If you’ve been reading TRB for a decade, you know that sometimes I’ll post a blog because I know it’s going to result in debate.

But to be honest, I had no idea what a hurricane last Tuesday’s blog was about to cause.

My predictions were honest, and so I thought, reasonable.

Dare I say, in my mind, they were obvious.

The average sale price in Toronto fell to $732,292 this past August, from a peak of $920,791 in April.  Everybody and their drunk mother know this number will be higher by the end of September.

Right?

So I thought, perhaps rather naively.

Perhaps I underestimated the number of market bears out there, and while some have suggested that the “bulls” and “bears” label are too form-fitting and restrictive, I really do think that there’s little room for an in-between.

A cynic would suggest that the bulls own real estate, and the bears do not.

I could easily create a fictional “bear” who passionately, and at times of late, aggressively, states his or her position on Internet forums.  This is a would-be 2007 real estate buyer, who heard the market was going to tank, and held off on purchasing.  The $1,000,000 house that he or she eyed in 2007, gained, and gained, and gained, hitting somewhere in the neighbourhood of $2,400,000 earlier this year.  “Denial” isn’t a river in Egypt; it’s a character trait that we all possess, and many demonstrate in times of complete and utter dismay.

If I were a person who read the wrong article, took the wrong advice, or believed so hard in my own hope/dream/prayer that I cost myself a lifetime of tax-free capital gains I would never make back, then I might be angry too.

But reading the comments on many online newspaper articles, I just can’t get over the level of anger that exists.

Anger.

Real, true, anger.

It’s present in every comment section of every newspaper article about real estate this month.

I’m blessed to have a readership on TRB that is far more savvy, informed, and respectful, than what trolls around the Internet.  TRB’s bulls and bears throw statistics like adults; not feces like monkeys.

But online – just, wow, I can’t get over it.

The Globe & Mail wrote just about the only positive article about the Toronto real estate market last week: “The Buyers Are Back In Toronto’s Housing Market.”

The comments, which have now been closed, were beyond angry.

Many readers took to calling this “fake news” and suggested that there was some sort of conspiracy between the Toronto Real Estate Board and the Globe & Mail to publish false information.

Here’s a sample of the comments:

“Yet another sponsored article by TREB/agents.”

“This article is FAKE NEWS!  This market is about to plummet another 20-30%.”

“This is complete propaganda from the RE industry! G&M needs the cash (advertisement) and will print anything these guys will tell them to.”

“G&M you will go bankrupt if you continue to post realtor propaganda. Pathetic and laughable article.”

Where does all this anger come from?

And tell me if I’m wrong here, folks, but I believe that you are far, far more likely to predict a market crash if you want it to happen, then if you don’t.

I also think that the people that are the most angry, and screaming the loudest – throwing around “fake news” tags like those above, are far less likely to own real estate.

I’m not saying that all market bears are non-owners of real estate.  But I’m saying that not owning real estate is a fantastic reason to have a bearish outlook, and delude yourself into thinking a 50% market crash is coming.

So with that out of the way, and keeping in mind that this was just supposed to be the lead-in for the actual meat of today’s blog, let me get back to the decline in average home price.

I made two statements last week that I think many people disagreed with:

1) The average sale price of a Toronto home will increase in September and October, over that of August.

2) The average sale price of a Toronto home, reported in August, of $732,292, is misleading.

I stand by both of those statements, and today, I’m going to double down.

The reason why I ‘predicted’ that the average sale price in Toronto would increase in September and October isn’t because, as some commenters suggested, I was biased, or cheerleading, or pumping tires, or “trying to change the psychology of the buyer pool” (which was flattering, for somebody to think one blog post on the entirety of the Internet could have that effect), but rather because I figured that was a slam dunk.

The average sale price dropped 20% from April to August.

But the value of Toronto homes didn’t drop 20%, or anywhere near it.

This is what I mentioned last week, and have said in a number of media interviews – that the average home price decreasing 20% on paper has not translated in practice.

Not even close.

Yes, the average sale price reported by TREB has dropped from $920,791 in April to $732,292 this past August.

But I, or anybody else, nor you if you tried, can find a $1,000,000 house that’s selling for $800,000, or a $500,000 condo that’s selling for $400,000.

So ladies and gentlemen, get ready to throw the “fake news” tag at me when I suggest that the average sale price reported in July and August does not reflect the average value.

The two simply are not aligned.

Yes, I agree that values are down, the market has changed, the market has declined, the psychology has changed, and we’re in a far more balanced market.  The spring conditions are long-gone.

But the numbers, on which the media, and the bears, want to focus, are exacerbating and exaggerating the decline.

Over the past month, I have offered two reasons for this:

1) Fewer houses are sold in the summer, as the housing market is more cyclical than the condo market.

2) Far fewer luxury houses are sold in the summer, because luxury homes are always marketed in the spring.

So let’s look back through the first eight months of 2017, and see how each of the nine home-types that TREB tracks represented all the home sales, on a percentage basis.

Many of you won’t be familiar with these home types, but I figured I’d show them all, as TREB does.

A “link” house is a freehold, which is linked underground via the foundation, but might not be linked above ground, like a semi or a row.

A “co-op” apartment and a “co-ownership” are essentially the same thing, as far as I’m concerned.  Both fall under the “condo” umbrella.

A “detached condo” is something, to be quite honest, I have never seen and really don’t understand, and perhaps that’s why the numbers are so low.

In any event, you know what detached, semi-detached, and rowhouses are (the latter shows as att/row/twn on MLS for attached-rowhouse-townhouse, simply meaning it’s attached at both sides), and you know what condo apartments and condo townhouses are.  The rest are such small percentages, that they’re not really important.

Here’s how the percentages break down:

I think it’s important to note, more than anything, how the percentage of detached homes, which are the holy-grail of houses, and clearly the most expensive, peaks in April at 49.1%, which of course, we know as the peak of the average home price, and valleys in August at 40.6%.

Coincidence?

Or correlation?

Those nine categories are confusing, and unnecessary, and I’ve really only included them to be exact.

Let’s add together the freeholds (detached, semi-detached, rowhouse, link house) and label them “Freehold,” and add together the condos (condo townhouse, condo apartment, co-ops, detached condo, and co-ownerships), and label them “Condo.”

Again, we see the trend continue.

The month of April saw 67.3% of all sales represented by freeholds.

That number dropped dramatically to 60.3% in August.

You might think 6% is insignificant; a ’rounding error’ you might say.

But if the average freehold price in Toronto was, say, $1,000,000 in August, and the average condo price was $500,000, then seeing 6% fewer freehold and 6% more condos in August, than in April, is clearly going to change the resulting average sale price.

If we saw the same 67.3% and 32.6% ratio of freehold to condos in August, as we saw in April, the $732,292 would be significantly higher.

If we’re truly going to compare apples to apples, and compare the average sale price in April to the average sale price in August, then we need to consider what the average is averaging.

In this case, we’re averaging a different set of data: far fewer houses, and far more condos.

We all know that the real estate market is more cyclical for houses than it is for condos.

Who owns houses?  Primarily families.

What do families do in the summer?  They vacation.  They send the kids to camp.  They do not diligently and feverishly partake in the real estate market, as they do in the spring, and the fall.

That “average sale price” in August is skewed because of the sample being taken.

And it’s for this reason, going back to my blog from last Tuesday, that I figured I had a “slam dunk” prediction when I said the average sale price in September will be higher than August.

I still believe that.

As to my second point, about the luxury home market, consider the following:

Now first and foremost, I don’t consider a $2,000,000 home to be “luxury” in Toronto any more, but TREB uses this as the highest price point tracked, so let’s work with what we’ve got.

Just as I suggested that there are more houses, as a percentage of sales, sold in the spring than in the summer, I am have suggested that the same is true with respect to the higher-end homes.

This chart proves that.

We saw another peak (a continuing theme) in April with 10.1% of all sales for detached houses topping $2,000,000.

in August, that number plummeted to 4.3%.

Once again, you have to figure this will have an affect on the average sale price.

Those $3 Million, $4 Million, and $5 Million homes that were listed in the spring, were not listed in the summer.

And while you might say, “If home prices decreased, then a $2,100,000 house that sold in April, and is included in those 579 sales, would sell for $1,990,000 in August, and wouldn’t be included in the 112 sales,” I would agree, but, I would suggest that we’re talking about a literal handful of properties that fit that description.

For the most part, we’re talking about 6% fewer luxury homes being sold in August, than in April.

–

Bottom line, folks: I’m telling you from experience in this market, that the 20% drop in average sale price, on paper, has not translated to an actual 20% drop in sale price, in practice.

I’m not seeing out there, and neither are my colleagues.

Ask your friend from work who is looking at houses every weekend – the drop isn’t there.

5%, 10%, whatever you want to call it, depending on the location, and property type.

But just as I “predicted” last Tuesday that many buyers would be caught off guard with respect to market dynamics, I also think they’ll be caught off guard by market price.

Just as they’ll be caught off guard if they’re not expecting to see “offer nights” on freehold houses, and houses selling quickly, they’ll be caught off guard if they’re looking at a block of houses worth $1,000,000 in the spring, thinking they’re going to pick one up for $800,000.

To answer a few commenters from last Tuesday’s blog – yes, if I’m wrong about the average sale price increasing in September, I will absolutely admit that I was wrong, and post a photo of myself on Instagram wearing a dunce cap.

So long as you understand and acknowledge that after ten years of blogging on TRB, I write what I believe to be true, not what I want to be true.  The formula for many market bears, ironically, is the exact opposite…

The post Making Sense Of The Drop In Average Home Price appeared first on Toronto Real Estate Property Sales & Investments | Toronto Realty Blog by David Fleming.

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